Stark, beautiful, and harsh…South Florida moves me like no other landscape. So much so that I have cried - in joy and in sadness - when returning there after being away for too long. And I’ve seen others do the same, moved by feelings found only it seems when looking at that unforgiving and shelterless sea of grass.

To me, this photo captures all that is deeply moving - wonderful and terrible - about the environment of Florida. The rich and flat land, the vultures perched on the poles in the hot sun, the drainage canal that never runs dry, and the rickety power lines that are no match for hurricane winds all seem to point out the human folly of trying to control the Everglades. I cry for their beauty, for their loss, and for all the countless, unnamable souls who have toiled under the hot sun there.

The title to this post is a play on words, by the way. The Holey Land is a wildlife management area owned by the state of Florida.

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